Cafe

Last Thursday was a DR holiday, so we went on a little road trip. We decided to go with our friends Francis and Milka to a restaurant with an amazing view. It takes about an hour to get there, driving through amazing countryside. As I am a very seasoned road-tripper, everyone learned new roadtrip games!! It was well worth the trip once we got there, we had great coffee and go to just sit and talk and watch the view!

Cell phones

Got a used cell phone just sitting around? We want it! We can use them for staff at school, new missionaries, and of course, ourselves! If you can send it with all it's goodies (especially a charger) to our address listed on the right...we'd love it!! Thanks so much!! Can you drop me an email or note if you're sending one so we can watch out for it.

Baby steps!

Just wanted to add that as of today, we've got 200 kids who are de-wormed, weighed and measured, brushing their teeth daily, hand sanitizing before all their meals, and taking vitamins everyday. I think that's pretty cool.

Happy 1st Birthday

On Saturday we celebrated our neice's first birthday...the daughter of Alex and Marianne (Ariel's brother). We ate lots of pizza and watched the kids play in the sand. There was a pinata, also on the beach, and when it was opened lots of the candy got buried in sand! I can't believe she's already a year old...how fast time has gone!! Happy Birthday!

Pure love

Something special about kids is their ability to love from the first moment. I've known most of the new little guys for about 72 minutes but already they bombard me with hugs (mostly a massive group hug) and chanting "Jessi" together. I kind of like it.

As I watch these new faces, I understand more why Jesus taught us to be like the children, and see that more each day as I watch the kids interacting. They don't care about the fact that they're wearing pajamas as clothes, that the lunch they're eating is probably all they'll have all day, or that they're all sharing one cup to drink out of. I want to be like them. When the biggest worry of the day is if you're going to get to play soccer or what kind of hair baubles to put in. And these kids could worry...they've been dealt a hard hand of life. They often have 5 people sleeping in the same bed with no fan or mosquito net, no father figure, mom can't make enough to support the family of 9 so food is short if it exists at all.

It kind of puts things into perspectvie-again and again. So I'm not going to complain today. I won't talk about how hot it is, cause I get to sleep with a fan. I won't complain about my limited sick person diet, because my fridge is full of lots of things to keep me full. I'm going to worry less; think more about hair baubles and singing. I'm going to hug a lot and chant peoples names when I see them. At least I'm going to work on that.

Back to school

We started back to school last week and I spent the whole day smiling. The kids are amazing to put it simply. I wish I could do justice to what it means to have constant hugs from sweaty little faces, to meet 30 new preschoolers, to see each little face so happy to be back at school.

As I said, we welcomed in a new class of preschoolers and they are...precious. They're so tiny compared to the "big kids" who just yesterday were these little guys. It's fun seeing the older kids show the new ones the ropes. Sometimes it's easy to feel like we haven't really changed much in their lives, but when we bring in new kids, it's clear to see the huge differences. The "old" kids come in so orderly and wait to eat until we have prayed. The new kids come in and talk and start eating immediately. I love to see the faces and reactions of the older kids when they see the new ones do these things. It makes me proud like a mother to watch these guys.

On my end of things, I've been back for 2.5 weeks and seem to be doing mostly well. There are a lot of adjustments with food and temperature (it is HOT!), but so far it's going smoothly. I've had a few bouts of hurty stuff, but at least now I know better how to manage it and can usually pinpoint what it was that caused it. I'm trying to stick to foods I've already tried and tested and that seems to work well. I'm easing slowly back into work and will be going on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as to make sure I can smoothly handle this transition.